ElEmEnTaL
by Verna Venisa
Summary: Girl gets sucked into tortall thing again.... set prob. right after Lady knight... YAY! after...a long time... I've FINALLY UPDATED! WOOOOOOO! lol
1. Girl goes to place with castle

Chapter one: Arrival  
  
"-and today shows us sunny skies with a few clouds at 90o,"the radio announcer said as a girl with dark hair groaned and slapped the snooze button on her alarm clock. She lifted her head up just enough from her pillow to see the time-7:00-and today was a Saturday.  
"Of all times for me to take freakin' riding lessons," Kara said as she rolled over and off her bed with a thump. She sat up with a yelp and levered herself to her feet and trudged toward the bathroom. "My mom had to take the early lesson," she finished.  
The fifteen year old went off into a daze as she took a shower and got dressed, not even aware of what she put on. She then stuffed her C.D. player and C.D.s, her deodorant and a book into her backpack. Then she stuffed her feet into her riding boots and walked into her garage. Kara's mother wasn't out there yet so she took some time to actually tie her boots and put on some makeup before someone she knew saw her. "It's not like anyone cares anyways," she muttered to herself.  
Kara turned her attention back to her boots and suddenly felt as if she wasn't alone. She looked up quickly to find a VERY tall man looking around as though in a daze.  
He was cute, on Kara's standards, though others may think hat he was too tall. He looked like he was in his mid-twenties, with long black hair tied back into a horse tail and tan skin. His clothes looked as if they were shipped from the middle ages. Over it all he wore a long black robe that buttoned high at the neck. Kara could have sworn that it looked familiar.  
Kara stood up suddenly; hooking the chair she had been sitting on with her leg and chucking it at him. He looked up from rubbing his head suddenly and cried out, raising a hand. The chair exploded about a foot in front of him.  
Kara gaped at the man and reached back to grab something, anything that could help her. Hmmm. a shoe and a wrench from her dad's tool box. She feinted to throw the shoe at him with her left hand and then heaved the wrench at him with the other hand. He raised another hand and everything seemed to pause. Kara found that every move that she made seem to take tremendous effort. As the wrench clattered to the ground halfway between her and the man, she felt the air lighten around her again.  
Kara raised both of her hands in surrender, "I give up ok?" She placed her hands on her hips, "Who are you, what do you want, and what the hell are you wearing?"  
"That is not important now," the man replied, shaking his head in a dismissive manner, "but what is important now is that you come with me."  
"No way!" Kara said, backing up and grabbing at her backpack while still keeping her eye on the black-haired man. He took a step toward her and Kara made the stupid mistake of tripping.  
Kara cried out as a thick, black substance enveloped her and pulled her down. She screamed and clawed at the substance as it went across her mouth and preventing her from breathing. She knew that this was the end and she stopped struggling. Then suddenly, it all stopped as a strong pair of arms grabbed her and yanked her up.  
And the goop was gone. Kara was standing in the middle of a peaceful meadow; cows and sheep looked up at her for a moment before returning to their grazing. She surveyed her surroundings with her green eyes. Before her loomed up a CASTLE. it sort of looked like Cinderella's castle in Disney World, only without the blue towers. Looking behind her, she saw a dense wood of pines, and surprisingly, a horse grazing.  
"Crap this is really weird," Kara said as she rubbed her head, "Dude I HAVE to be dreaming, but then again, maybe I don't want this to end, it is pretty cool." (OOC: talking to yourself is a sign of insanity) Clucking to the horse, Kara eventually got up onto it's back and used it's halter to steer it towards the castle. Soon, she found a dirt road. Little did she know that a blonde woman surveyed her from the forest, cloaked by an invisibility spell. 


	2. Girl gets captured by hot man in King's ...

Chapter two: Corus  
  
Disclaimer: I own absolutely NOTHING in this story except for Kara and Faecha. Just kidding I am Tamora Pierce and they are ALL MINE!!!!!!!!  
  
I know that the 1st chapter went kind of quick and it was really short but I had to get her there first. ENJOY!!! *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
As Kara neared the castle walls, the traffic on the road grew surprisingly thick. The only problem was, that the people were all wearing medieval clothing and speaking in a weird accent. She also noticed that most were either driving carts or walking.  
Staring at Kara with wide eyes, the townspeople whispered to themselves and hid their children from her. What am I going to do to them? Kara thought as she shook her head and urged her horse faster, they think I'm weird? Why don't they look at their own clothes? THERE'S weirdness.  
Kara approached what she assumed were the castle gates and walked through them into the marketplace. She was filled with wonder as she viewed the streets filled with yelling vendors, shopping women, laughing men, screaming children, and animals.  
As Kara picked her way among the crowd, a vendor close by yelled out, "Top of the line Yamani silk and Copper Isles leather!"  
She grew pale, "The copper- the copper isles? A-And the Yamani islands? Are we in Corus?" Kara asked a guy about her age passing by on a horse with his friends. He looked like a noble but she really didn't know since she had been in Corus for only a few minutes.  
"Well, yeah," he said, looking her up and down with a smirk. "What? Are you lost?"  
"No, just curious," Kara said and rode off with her nose in the air. That usually worked for guys that she wasn't interested in. She wasn't so lucky. The youth and his friends followed her down the road and the leader rode up beside her. "What's wrong? You afraid of some company?" "No," Kara replied with narrowed eyes, "I just don't care for assholes, sorry."  
Kara shoved him to the side, making him loose balance and almost fall off his horse. As he tried to regain balance, she rode off quickly, not wanting anymore trouble.  
The dark-haired girl eventually found what she was looking for, the gates to the castle. Kara joined a line of carts that waited there and waited until it was her turn in line. A guard with a long roll of parchment in his hand asked her, "State where you are going and why."  
"I need to speak with King Jonathan and Queen Thayet as soon as possible. My reasons are for the king's ears only." She lifted her chin at the man's raised eyebrows.  
"I don't think so missy," the guard said, "if you want to talk to the king you're gonna' have to wait until court next week like everyone else. No one gets private meetings with Their Majesties unless they are on friendly terms with the king." Then he smiled suddenly and leaned forward, "But if you give me a kiss I'll be willin' to give him a message."  
She narrowed her eyes and without a word, she turned her horse around and walked away. Where will you go now? Kara thought to herself. Then, inspiration struck.  
"Well, this is more Faecha's line of work than mine but I'll have to work with what I have for awhile," Kara muttered to herself, turning her horse around. Suddenly, she let out a bloodcurdling scream and kicked her horse into a run, plowing through the now screaming crowd. By now she was a skilled enough rider to avoid people in tight places. Picking up a chicken with one hand and a handful of spears with the other, she screamed again and rode through the panicked crowd.  
Finally, a group of guards realized what was going on and "suppressed" Kara and dragged her off her horse and through the gates to the castle. Tying her hands and feet together, they threw her over the back of a horse and galloped into the castle courtyard.  
When they finally stopped, Kara had suppressed her giggles and was staring around her at the five or so guards riding beautiful horses. They wore blue and silver tunics and some sort of blue cape things, Kara guessed they were the Kings Own, the king's elite guard, and was flattered that they had taken the time to actually "capture" her.  
One of them untied her feet and lifted her easily off the horse. He turned her around to reveal a hottie with blue eyes and blonde hair. Kara's jaw dropped as he lifted an eyebrow and brushed some hair away from her face. "You ok?" he asked.  
"You-you're Dom!!!" Kara exclaimed, looking him up and down in wonder. "You-you were with Kel in the Scanran war and-and-"Kara faltered and swayed. Dom caught her as she fell. "Are you alright?" The blonde asked, holding her on her feet, "And how did you know who I was?"  
"You are a character in some books that I read. They were about Kel, and the Scanran war and how she became a knight. You ROCKED in them," Kara added as she looked upon Dom in wonder.  
Dom surveyed her with his blue eyes (OCC: as you can see I REALLY like Dom) and remarked, "We better get you to the king right away, this sounds important." He signaled to the other men and two took each of her arms. As they leaded her through the twisted halls of the castle, Dom remarked, "We probably would have killed you on the spot but since you were a girl and all we decided to let the king deal with you. You aren't the first to try that stunt; just last week we had another young woman about your age do the same thing that you did. The only thing different was that she stole a sword and tried to throw it at the guards."  
Kara laughed and said, "Sounds like Faecha to me."  
Dom nodded, "That's right, Faecha Quickpaw, the newest wild speaker at court. Some say she has almost as much wild magic as Daine."  
Before Kara could even exclaim about one of her best friends being in this wonderful country, they were at the double doors to what she guessed was the Great Hall. She then took a deep breath and braced herself for the shock she knew would come next and walked through the great wooden doors. 


	3. Matrix moves and sendings

Chapter three: Faecha  
  
WOOHOO!!!!!!!! You finally get to figure out who Faecha is!!! She's the best; I based her on 1 of my friends. Disclaimer: THEIR MINE!!!!! ALL MINE!!!!!!!!! *Clutches squirming characters to chest* I AM TAMORA PIERCE!!! REALLY, I AM!!!!  
  
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When Kara walked through the doors, a scene opened up before her. The hall was big, about the size of a small basketball stadium. The room was lined with columns to hold up the roof made of some dark stone Kara couldn't identify and had numerous tapestries and unlit torches lining the walls. Windows with fuzzy glass let sunlight inside in streaks of gold.  
Sitting on two mahogany thrones were King Jonathan and Queen Thayet. Jonathan was very handsome, with coal black hair and dark, dreamy blue eyes. Thayet was breathtakingly beautiful; the only possibly way to summon it up in a few words. Men must be falling over themselves to talk to her, Kara thought as she viewed the monarchs; that would be IF they could remember to speak.  
Surrounding the two monarchs were a number of people. Immediately Kara recognized Alanna, the king's champion, with her flaming red hair she was unmistakable. Sitting at her feet was Daine, the wildmage, and in her lap was a DRAGON. Well of course, Kara thought to herself, Kitten goes everywhere with Daine, she's smarter than most humans anyways. On the other side of the room, leaning heavily on a pillar, was a HUGE man with dark hair, Raoul of the Kings Own, she would have to complement him later of the efficiency of the Kings Own.  
The most shocking of the people in the Hall was the man pacing back and forth with a quizzical look on his face. Another tall one, Kara thought, who's missing? He had long black hair tied into a horse tail and dark eyes and looked VERY familiar.  
"NUMAIR?!?!" Kara yelled out suddenly and broke free of the Own's grasp. "YOU WERE THE ONE WHO BROUGHT ME HERE? BUT HOW? AND WHY?" Kara stopped in front of the mage as everyone in the room looked at her. Numair stopped pacing and looked up, confused.  
"Who is this?" Jonathan said with a ½ smile, "And why are her hands tied?" "Your majesty, she caused havoc in the market place." A guard replied, "We didn't know what to do with her, like the last one."  
"Well," the king said to the Own, "what did we do last time?"  
"We, uh, gave them a room in the visitor's wing and you spoke to them in private, right?"  
"Off you go then," the king said cheerfully, "But first, will you please untie miss." The king looked expectantly at Kara.  
"Kara, just Kara. you sound like one of my teachers when you say miss." Kara said, and to the shock of everyone in the room, she bowed slightly, spun around and walked towards the door. She called over her shoulder, "We can talk after I get some rest ok? To tired to talk, bye!" And she walked out of the Great Hall, the Own trailing after her to untie her hands.  
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Kara woke up suddenly in the middle of the night in a huge bed in the guest wing of the castle. Sitting up suddenly, she felt a presence surge at the window to her right. She rolled off her bed as she heard some scratching at the dark window. The girl groped under the bed for a weapon, a broom, it would have to do.  
Looking underneath the bed, Kara saw four paw-like hands and feet quietly pad to the floor. They paused for a moment and slowly made their way across the room to where Kara was crouching. Jumping up suddenly, Kara swung the broom as hard as she could at the dark form in front of her. The thing yelped and pulled a matrix move on her, ducking and grabbing the broom at the same time, kicking Kara's legs out from under her and jumping away. As Kara struggled to get up quickly, she looked up to see CAT-LIKE eyes glowing at her. The creature growled and lashed out at her with sharp claws, making Kara jump back and regain balance. As the creature lashed out again, months of fighting bullies at school took over. She kicked up at the creatures chin, following that with a punch that sent the thing into the door.  
Kara, shaking her hair out of her face, pinned the creature to the ground by sitting on it, not having anything else nearby. The creature gasped as it struggled to get the thing squashing it's lungs off. Kara pinned its arms down and jumped, sitting HARD down on the thing.  
"UGH!!! STOP THAT KARA!!!" The creature said through gritted teeth.  
"FAE?!" Kara said, immediately getting up off of one of her best friends since seventh grade. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?!"  
"TRYING to surprise you, what else?" The girl replied, sitting up and rubbing her head where it hit the door.  
"Well," Kara said, helping Faecha up off the ground and lighting a candle, "why didn't you just surprise me in the morning?"  
"I was ALSO trying to prove to the King of the Rogue that I can break into a person's rooms in the castle without them knowing. Since you are new here and all, I decided do kill two birds with one stone. I forgot that you can kick my ass when it comes to hand-to-hand stuff." She sat down on Kara's bed. "So, how was your trip here? I can tell you that mine was a nightmare. A lot of Bazhir and a Shang." She put on a dreamy look, "Oh, well maybe not all of it was bad."  
"Ummm. Right," Kara replied to this sudden change of mood, "Well, a lot of Numair, even more goopy black stuff, and some running around screaming. Not so bad, but now my butt hurts." She looked at the girl pointedly.  
"Sorry," Faecha said sheepishly, "For a second I thought I had the wrong room. So I came in farther to see if you had fallen off the bed. When you attacked me, I freaked, and shapeshifted so that I had cat claws. You could say that that didn't work out to well."  
"Wait a minute," Kara said sharply, "you SHAPESHIFTED?"  
Faecha smiled, "That's right, I have wild magic now. For the past month, Numair and Daine have been teaching me. You could say I have been catching on a lot faster than Daine did."  
"YEAH!" Kara said, walking over to her window and closing it, "It took her like, four years to get hers under control, how did you train your magic so fast?"  
"I don't - unfortunately-have near as much as Daine, that's why my shifts are limited. I can only go so far. Like you know how she changed her voice box in the 4th book while she was a bird into a human's?" Kara nodded. "Well, I am not near powerful enough to do that, and I can only change completely into a wolf, an eagle, and that's about it. Numair said that I already have a closer bond to them than other animals so it is much easier to shift into them than others, but I am perfectly contented with just being able to shift. Now, if you don't mind, I need to get some sleep, I need to meet the King of the Rogue tomorrow morning." Faecha stood up to leave. As she was walking towards the window, Kara said, "Wait! How did you know that I was in this room, let alone in Tortall at all?" The wild mage grinned, "Gossip travels VERY fast around here. You should expect that tomorrow you will be rumored to rival Thayet in her beauty and arrived riding an elephant from a country where horses talk, or some such nonsense." Kara shook her head, "This is too much, go on out Fae, I need to get some sleep." Faecha grinned and opened the window, "You do that, now if you don't mind." She walked backwards and took a running jump out of the window, coming in again as an eagle. The wild mage flew over to Kara who held out an arm for her friend. Faecha jumped on it and Kara walked over to her door, opening it and whispering to her, "Take a crap on the Lord Provost's head for me ok?" The bird nodded with a smug rustle of her feathers and Kara launched the eagle into the hallway.  
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The morning saw her in the Great Hall in a deep blue bodice and skirt and her boots. She didn't really want to wake up this morning but the servants insisted on her making breakfast to talk to the king. He had insisted that she sit with him at the High Table with the other teachers and people of importance and she didn't like everyone staring at her so much. What she DID notice, though, was that she saw a lot of semi-familiar faces. Daine and Numair sat near the end of the High Table together, talking in whispered voices. Below her, sitting with uneaten food at one of the other tables, she noticed a group of young men and one woman , probably about nineteen or twenty, talking and gazing at her with interest. Faecha was right, Kara thought as she pretended not to notice, gossip DOES travel fast around here. The Hall's double doors opened and the king walked through with what she guessed was Lord Wyldon. Jonathan was wearing a simple outfit of breeches and a shirt, though obviously of the best quality. He walked up the hall as the room grew quiet. When he reached the High table, the king addressed the crowd sitting in front of him, "I believe that Lady Kara should say grace for us on this morning." And he sat down, looking up at Kara expectantly. If Kara expected anything, it wasn't this. She froze for a moment, her mouth open in surprise at the man that DARED to try and embarrass her. The girl shook back her long black hair and heard a sigh from one of the men down below her. The voice belonged to a squire with short brown hair that looked like it had fingers run through it a few times. With his green eyes, the young man had to be from Queenscove because he reminded her so much of Neal, not to mention that he had Dom's nose and chin. Ugh, she thought, not another poem writer. Kara cleared her throat and took a very deep breath, "Grace," she said shortly and sat down, looking over at the now shocked king and the snickering group of people. She looked over at the king again, "Satisfied? Next time, I'll actually USE one of my prayers." The King of Tortall looked over at her and grinned before looking down at his plate, shaking his head. "Sorry, you should have seen the look on your face." Suddenly he grew serious, "Now, what would you like to know about us? I am at a loss for words on how to begin." Kara took a deep breath. "I want to know about everything: why how and when I got here, and I want to know NOW. None of this beating around the bush business." "Well, it's about time she asked too." a familiar voice commented behind her with a quiet chuckle, "I TOLD you she'd be arrogant about it-" "Oh shut up Fae," Kara said, throwing a piece of bread at the tall, auburn- haired girl taking a seat next to Kara. "Your Majesty," Faecha Quickpaw said as an introduction, "May I present to you Kara Ravenwing, the most arrogant young woman in the realm, the princess of tripping and the queen of cursi-" She didn't have time to finish because of the forkful of egg that hit her straight in the face. "I should have seen that coming," Faecha muttered, wiping egg off her face. "Anyways," Kara continued, taking a look at her friend's shocked and indignant face and breaking out laughing as a reward, "I would like to know what is going on," she glanced at Faecha again, "please." "Well, the king remarked, "I'm not sure I should be the one to tell you these things that you want to know. Master Salmalin is probably the most appropriate person to tell you that so I suggest that you seek him out, but until then," he picked up his fork and began to eat, "I suggest that we all nourish ourselves before we starve." Soon after, a messenger came and whispered urgently into the king's ear. He chuckled and nodded, suddenly turning to the girls eating and saying, "I'm sorry, I have some urgent business I need to deal with, please do not forget to visit Numair."  
  
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Kara needed things answered!!! She wanted to follow the king immediately but had to be fitted for a mass of clothes. A gift from Thayet. After this, Kara sneaked past the guards patrolling near the king's study. Kara quietly opened the door and crept in. "Kara, my dear, hello," the king said, not even looking up from the pile of paperwork on his desk. "I thought you would have been here over an hour ago." "I had to be fitted for clothes, your majesty. A gift from your wife," Kara replied with a shrug. "But I wanted to talk about-" "How you got here," Jonathan finished for her, placing his quill down and gesturing to the chair across from him, "Take a seat." Kara sat down and waited expectantly. "We have been recently been working on a way to travel to different worlds. It is called 'sending.' Numair has recently been trying to travel to your world -- earth, is it? - and bring back things but it has never seemed to work right. Out of numerous attempts, only two have been successful. These are the instances where Numair brought you and Faecha here." "How does it work?" Kara inquired. "Sending is an old ritual that used to be performed only by the chosen of Mithros and Shakith. But things have changed. The process is done by a heavily Gifted person. They use a staff to open a portal-like door to another world. Depending on the incantation recited, the person goes to a world. The door then remains opened for about twenty-four hours and then collapses on itself." The king shook his head, "So far, we have only found the incantation to your world and a few others." Kara nodded, NOW things made sense. "SO Fae and I have been brought form Earth to Tortall. Sounds like a fair exchange to me. How often can you do a sending?" "It depends," Jonathan replied, "Since Numair is the only person so far that has enough power and experience to send, about once every four or so weeks. The sending is very complicated and takes a lot of a person's Gift to do. We also don't know how to get you back right now so until then, you and our wild-mage will have to stay in the castle." "Why on earth would we want to go back?" Kara said, grabbing a piece of parchment off the king's desk and folding it into an airplane. "I mean, me an' Fae have been thinking about this actually happening since we finished reading about Tortall. As long as you don't expect us to fend for ourselves, why the hell would we want to go back to Earth? There isn't anything for us there except family. And we could always come and get them later, right?" "I should think so," the king replied, "We haven't gotten all the kinks out of sending but we assume that you COULD go back and get others if you really wanted." "Good," Kara said, nodding and standing up. "Oh yeah, one more thing, how did Faecha get wild magic?" "We aren't sure," The king answered, "But we think that she acquired it over the traveling from your world to ours. Just to be safe, I think that you should check with Numair to see if YOU have received anything too, you might be surprised."  
  
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OMG, this chapter took me FOREVER to type, sry for the wait, I'll have another long one coming up too, so pleze be patient. Hoped you enjoyed it. REVIEW PLEASE!!!!!!!!! THEY'RE FUN!!!!!!!!!!! 


	4. Daggers and Thievs

Chapter four: Daggers and Thieves  
  
Aight my home dawgs, you are in for another VERY LONG chapter. I just realized that I never gave an explanation for how Kara looked so here goes. She's about fifteen, with stick straight black hair going to her mid back or so. about 5'8" with light blue eyes that turn darker when she gets pissed off. Pretty athletic. as you can see and um. really flexible. I think that's it. WOOHOO!!!! I'm done! Now I think that I am gonna bring someone else here. any suggestions? I think that she'll be a seer, a real powerful one.. Hmmmm.. Think think think think think.  
  
Disclaimer: I own none of Tamora Pierce's stuff. I got in trouble last month for stealing Numair and putting him in my room so now I have to pay for him. damn attorneys...  
  
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"Yes, you have it alright," Numair Salmalin said, examining her hands, "And you're quite strong in it too. And you said that you DON'T have the Gift in your world?"  
  
"Well," Kara replied thoughtfully, "we DO have some people like that. but it isn't as you mean. For us, it is mostly seers and a few people with telekinetic powers but that's about it, and they're really rare." She looked at her hands, "So I have the Gift? Sweet!" Numair looked at her inquiringly.  
  
"Ummm. sweet means good. It's slang in our world. I tend to use it a lot." The mage nodded, "So what other words do you use?"  
  
"I'll tell you later ok?" Kara replied, quickly getting up and pacing around the room. She didn't want Daine to get mad at her for being too close to her guy. That would be VERY bad. "So do I have a lot?"  
  
"Of what?" Numair asked.  
  
"Of the Gift you dolt," Kara said exasperatedly, picking up Numair's staff from the corner and spinning it between her fingers.  
  
"Well, it isn't really a matter of whether you have a little or a lot since it can't be measured but yes, you are strong in the Gift." Numair stood up and took his staff from Kara, placing it back where it was.  
  
Kara continued to walk around and when she saw a vial that took her interest, she picked it up. "What color is it?" Kara inquired, gazing at the contents and reading the label-wakeflower-she undid the cork and took a light sniff. Ugh! Gross. that was NASTY! No wonder it woke Daine up in the second book, that thing could raise the dead if it wanted to!  
  
"Why don't you take a look yourself? And STOP sniffing my wakeflower!" He finished, snatching the vial up from Kara and replacing the cork.  
  
"No need to be snippy about it. And plus, I don't know how." Kara took a seat again, swinging her legs over one of the arms of the chair and taking a look at her nails.  
  
"That is what I am going to teach you and anything else you will need to know about your gift, including how to use it. Now, close you eyes and look inside yourself."  
  
"How?"  
  
"You don't know how?"  
  
"NO! Otherwise I wouldn't be asking smart ass!"  
  
"Just, think of how your soul would look, here, I'll show you."  
  
The mage placed his hands on her head and she closed her eyes. There! It looked just like Pierce said it looked a little ball of fire right near where the middle of her chest was. Yes! Kara thought, doing a mental dance, she had the gift that she wanted to have, purple, so dark that it was almost black. She returned back to the human world, jumping up and doing crazy disco moves singing "I've got a pretty gift; I've got a pretty gift! YAY!" Numair looked at her like she was crazy. maybe he was right.  
  
"OK, all done." Kara stopped suddenly, returning to her position on the chair. "So when do I start learning about my gift?"  
  
"Right now," He replied, standing up and getting a book off one of the shelves.  
  
And so it began.  
  
They worked everyday from 8 to 4, ranging her lessons from simple fire magic, to battle magic, to defense. Kara discovered that she was more adept to the elemental magic's of earth wind fire and ice. Months rolled by and Kara got into a routine at the place.  
  
Once, when she was bored because Numair couldn't do lessons that day, Kara took a trip to the Marketplace. Her teacher had given her some pocket money and she needed to buy a dagger to practice spelling.  
  
Kara walked down the Market road cautiously, not wanting a repeat of a few months ago. Examining a few shops, she looked for the blue sheen of Yamani steel but couldn't find any daggers that she liked.  
  
The last vendor that she tried was an abnormal looking tent with the sign, "FINE YAMANI STEEL!" and in smaller letters, "Swords, Daggers, and more!" Kara walked into the tent with an uneasy feeling.  
  
Hundreds of blades lined the walls! Short swords, long swords, throwing knives, daggers, all shining the blue sheen of Yamani steel. The tent must have been spelled to be bigger on the inside than the outside because it took up space about the size of a tennis court.  
  
Standing behind a collapsible counter was a woman dressed all in black with a veil over her nose and mouth. She looked up and said, "What are you looking for?"  
  
"Uhhh. a dagger," Kara said, eying the area of throwing daggers longingly.  
  
The strange woman gestured at the wall of daggers and five flew off their places, burying themselves inside the opposite wall in a neat line about eyelevel to Kara. Kara jumped; the walls seemed to be made out of wood covered in canvas, not just a thick canvas as she thought.  
  
"Take a look," The woman said and bent back down to her work. Kara moved toward the daggers and took a closer look. The first was ok, but had nothing on the hilt. too boring. The second she examined w/ her gift and found that it had been used for bad purposes before, no way was she using THAT one. The third and fourth ones looked a bit rusty and had strange red markings that looked oddly of blood on them. ewwww.  
  
The last by far was her favorite. Shining silver in the hilt, the dagger had a mixture of earth, wind, fire, and ice symbols. Curious to see what the rest looked like, she tugged on the hilt with her left hand. When it didn't move, she used both hands and pulled as hard as she could. Kara would have to use magic to get it out.  
  
Kara easily changed the consistency of the wood to something resembling water. When the blade dropped, she caught it by the hilt. A jolt ran through her so that she almost dropped the blade. Opening her eyes (she had been squinting them shut); Kara realized that the dagger had shown no signs of being in the wood. When she took a closer look at the blade, she realized that fire played along the edge. Dropping the dagger, it slowly drifted to the floor where it stopped, an inch or so from the ground. Picking it up, Kara felt the dagger turn to something strangely resembling water.  
  
Kara suddenly remembered the veiled woman. Snapping her head up at the counter, she realized the woman was gone! On the counter were two things. First was a plain leather sheath for the dagger. Next to this was a SWORD that matched the dagger. When she examined a piece of parchment on top of the sheath, it said: Elemental, find the one who can see all, the shifter, and another like yourself. Only then can you set things to rights. Nymph child, complete this task and you shall know the enemy. Defeat it. These weapons are yours, take them but they shall be useless in the end.  
  
Kara gasped as the piece of parchment burst into flame. Dropping it, she picked up the sword and dagger and belted them to her waist over her skirt. She spun around and quickly walked out of the tent into the road again. Feeling like she was ready for anything, Kara looked back at the tent. IT WAS GONE! Kara continued to walk towards the castle with a gaping mouth; maybe she WASN'T so ready.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
Later that week, Kara made another trip to the marketplace, this time, for clothes. She needed some new boots because the ones she had worn when she first came to Tortall were wearing thin. She made he purchase and decided to have a drink at the inn across the street. As she walked in, she glanced at the name, the Dancing Dove. *I know that I'm getting myself into something right now* Kara thought.  
  
It took Kara a few second to adjust to the smoke and the noise in the inn. Walking to the counter, Kara shook her black hair away from her face and looked the bartender up and down with her blue eyes. He was a balding man in his mid-forties, but seemed polite enough.  
"Whatcha want?" The bartender said, cleaning a mug w/ a rag.  
"Oh, give me the strongest thing you have," Kara said with a ½ smile, "I have a lot on my mind."  
"Long day?" The man inquired.  
"Long week," Kara replied and walked off to try and find a seat. This proved no easy task as it seemed that most were taken already. Ready to give up, Kara suddenly saw a group of mushy chairs by the fire.  
Quickly moving over to them, she sat in one of the side ones by the fire. Then she thought better of it and sat in the Middle chair, the throne of the king of the Rogue.  
Kara's actions immediately took effect. Silence spread out over the common room like a wave. The only noise to be heard was a sudden humping and then a yell of, "What happened to all the friggin' noise?!?!?!"  
Kara twisted her head around her chair to the stair case where an extremely tousled Faecha half-fell down the stairs. "Fae, it's only me," Kara said and turned back to the fire. The bartender approached with her drink and set it on the table beside her. The he fled.  
"You have some nerve sitting there," Faecha said, trying to smooth down her auburn curls with her fingers. Suddenly she sat down in the chair next to Kara, "COOL! Sorry for the dramatic entrance, I got trashed." she drifted off into a loud giggling fit.  
"You still are," Kara replied and gave Faecha a shove toward the stairs. "Go to bed Quickpaw, I'll have Alanna give you her hangover remedy later." The wildmage muttered something incoherent and trudged back up the stairs, rubbing a temple.  
Kara pulled her knees up to her chest, and stared into the fire in deep thought. What she didn't see was a group of three young men that walked into the inn and made their way towards the "throne" where she sat. The leader shook his head to himself and leaned over, his dagger ready at hand. Just before he was going to stab her he looked around to make sure it wasn't a trap and he struck-  
--Only to be stopped by the clanging of metal as Kara's dagger met his.  
"You know," Kara said thoughtfully, lowering her dagger to her hip, "It can come in handy to have good hearing, and an elemental gift." She pointed to the wall behind her. There suspended a single purple/black spark that put the man's shadow into great relief over Kara. Kara gave it a crooked smile and snapped her fingers. A wave of water fell on it and the flame disappeared.  
"So, what do you want?" Kara asked, standing up and facing the leader for the first time. The man was tall, probably about six one or so, with brown hair that flopped into his green eyes. With a perfect white smile and a muscular build, Kara thought that he resembled a Medieval Ashton Kutcher, and that he was probably eighteen or so. (OCC: YES!!!!!!!! A GOD IS BORN!!!!!!!)  
"My chair, if you don't mind," he said with the raise of one eyebrow, "You see, it's sort of mine, sweet." He crossed his arms over his chest expectantly.  
"Oh, this chair?" Kara said in mock surprise, her hand flying to her throat. "Do I have to go NOW? It's SO pretty, I don't know if I can give it up."  
"Well," the man said with a shrug of his shoulders, "I'm just going to have to hurt you then, sorry, tradition."  
"Oh, it's ok!" Kara replied, drawing her sword and taking off her belt that held her purse, dagger, and sheath for her sword. "But, you se, I can't let that happen, want to know why?"  
"Why?" He said, unsheathing his sword too and setting his dagger on the table beside him.  
"Because, I like this chair!" Kara finished and attacked with her sword in a downward chop that could have separated the hemispheres of his brain if he had not jumped away just in time. His eyes widened, Kara was relatively small and the sword looked heavier than it was.  
They exchanged blows to one another. (OCC: I don't want to explain the whole battle because it would take me WAY too long) Once, their hilts locked and Kara swung her leg up over his neck and yanked DOWN. He staggered to his knees and she jumped onto his back, swinging her legs around his waist. Kara wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled as he was getting up, making him lose his balance and fall, just letting go in time to roll away. By the time he jumped to his feet, Kara had realized that she had dropped her sword and had spotted it on the ground across the room. She realized that she would NOT have time to get it and that she would have to fight him hand to hand, for he had dropped his sword when she had jumped on him too.  
When he jumped up, he backed away from Kara and gestured to some rope hanging on the wall. It sprung off of the wall and zoomed toward Kara. As she ducked, both ends went to her wrists and they tied them together before she could realize what had happened. *OH shit* Kara thought. Standing up and watching the man unsheathe WRIST KNIVES in both of his hands. She started to run to the left and knew that it was over if he chose to let loose a knife from one of his hands.  
Kara turned her head slightly to see what the man did. He lifted his dagger to his lips and whispered something to it. Then he threw it at her. Almost in slow motion, Kara saw it go down to her hands, wrap the excess rope around the hilt, and bury itself in the wood behind Kara ABOVE HER HEAD! *How the hell did I get my hands up there?* Kara thought and tried to pull the dagger loose. *Yea* Kara thought, *it's magicked alright, no WONDER he whispered to it before he threw it at me!*  
Kara suddenly didn't care anymore, she just wanted to go back to the castle and go to BED right now. The man sighed and walked over to her remarking, "You might as well not try to kick me right now, I'll just catch your foot." He waved his hand at her feet and Kara suddenly felt ropes tie themselves around her ankles. He walked closer and put his hands on either side of her on the wall. "I don't think that we were properly introduced, the name's Kris, Kris Talryn. And you are.?"  
"If I tell you, will you untie me?" Kara asked, not comfortable the way his face was inches from hers.  
"And let you hurt me? I don't think so. But then again, if you told me you name, it would save me the trouble of killing you because you knew mine." Kris flashed a smile and inched his face closer.  
"It's Kara ok? NOW will you get off?"  
"Promise not to run away?" He said, his face about two inches from her nose. "Alright then," Kris said suddenly, and shockingly to Kara, stole a kiss before he backed up. He gestured to the ropes tying her hands and feet. They flew off of her and thumped as they fell into a pile on the floor. Kris was already fingering his knife.  
"How'd you learn to fight like that?" Kara asked, retrieving her sword and belt.  
"Oh, my trade gets dangerous, what about you?" Kris said, surveying her with his green eyes.  
"Oh, just practice and having to deal with some bullies. Some of them didn't realize that I LIKE to fight people." She sat down coldly, "They had a rude awakening."  
"Kara," said a voice behind her, "we ALL had to deal with them, but it's not going to change what has happened. You should show him The Scar. Goddess it's HUGE!"  
"Fae," Kara said, "DIDN'T I tell you to go back to bed like, an hour ago?"  
"I DID ok?!" She said, taking a seat on the arm of the chair the King of the Rogue was sitting in. "And I DO feel a lot better now." She turned to Kris, "Sup Talryn? Anything new?"  
"Naaa." Kris replied, taking out his dagger and spinning it on his finger, "Just our little fox near killing me." He raised his eyebrows at Kara and winked.  
Kara rolled her eyes, "Whatever. What the hell is w/ all the nicknames anyways? I do have a name you know!"  
"Oh shut up Kara, he's just flirting," Faecha said, "He does it to everyone. The only reason why he does it is because he likes to be loved and mooned over." Kara laughed and Kris looked offended.  
"Well!" the thief suddenly said, standing up and theatrically stumbling over to Kara, "I can see that I'M not wanted here. I'll see you later Faecha, we need to talk about initiation." He turned to Kara, "And I'll see you later m dove," he took her hand and kissed it, "I'll make sure of that." Then he walked out of the door of the dancing dove with the flash of a smile.  
Kara suddenly found it hard to breathe. She quickly grabbed her drink, chugging it down in seconds. She gasped and choked down a cough saying, "Does he REALLY do that to everyone?"  
"What do YOU think?" the wild mage said with a wink and a grin.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ARG!!!!!! This chapter took me soooooooo freakin long to type!!! Cause see I already have it all WRITTEN. I just have to type it all!!!!! Woo!!! WHO SAW PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN?!?!?!?!?! I DID I DID!!! I LOVE Orlando bloom!!!! Ok!! I'm done raving! PLEASE REVIEW THIS PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!!! I need to know if I should start a new one or quit this one or if she should kill some people.. TELL ME WHAT TO DOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


	5. Stalkers and Dances

Chapter 5: Stalkers and Dances  
  
Er yeah... I always meant to update during the school year but I never actually got around to it... so YAY! Here you go! R&R please Disclaimer: MY NUMAIR, MINE!!!!!! clutches Numair's leg as he tries to shake me off... He's not mine, ok?  
  
Kris was true to his word. Whenever Kara went out of the castle, whether it was to the stables or the market place, she saw him there, or at least, she thought she did. She would usually see him out of the corner of her eye, and then when she turned to see more clearly, he was gone. The third time this happened, Kara decided just not to look at him anymore, and tried to ignore it. This only lasted for so long, soon, she was seeing him everywhere and the fact seemed to be following her around now: Kris was stalking her.  
  
Kara approached Alanna about this, remembering that George had stalked her for awhile in one of the Song of the Lioness books. She found the lady knight at the practice courts and stood back to watch as the lioness lunged, parried and chopped at unseen enemies. When it looked like she was taking a break, Kara walked over and said simply, "I've got a problem, I thought that maybe you could help me. You sort of had the same problem when you were earning your shield." Alanna looked up from where she was sitting and smiled, "Kris is following you around, isn't he?" When Kara didn't reply and only looked shocked, the lady knight explained, "George, you know, my husband, ever since he has quit being the King of the Rogue, he has been keeping tabs on all of the younger Kings. If he needed to, he sometimes even would help them out if it was too much for them to handle. Kris, well, Kris is one of the youngest Rouges that have lived for over a week while being King. For being seventeen, he has a good grip on what he wants." She stood up and smiled, "He finds you interesting to talk to, unlike all those 'damsel in distress- types'." The knight and Kara both scowled at this, and she smiled impishly, "I've heard he calls you a few nicknames too, was fox one of them?" Kara groaned and plopped down in the chair Alanna had just vacated, "Ugh... I should have just sat in the SIDE chair, then I wouldn't have this problem." She looked up at the redhead, her chin in a hand, "So what should I do?" The Lioness Kara had read so much about in books just shrugged, "I don't think there is much about it that you can do. Although," she put on look of quiet thoughtfulness, "since the man that stalked me I just so happened to marry, I think that it's pretty much a hopeless cause. But there is ONE thing that I THINK may work, but will take some time on your part." "Anything," Kara said, desperate for something that could have him leave her alone. "Stalk him back," She said simply with a shrug, picking up her sword again, "Especially at night, you know, let him see you, but then wind up not being there at all." Alanna smiled, "Chances are he won't like it so don't tell him that I gave you the idea. Now," she said, waving her off with her hands, "I need to get back to my practicing so you just go and wander around the castle a bit. Maybe even try the stalking thing tonight. He stays in one of the top rooms in the Dancing Dove, second window from the right, I think. See you later."  
  
To stalk or not to stalk, that is the question Kara thought, mock solemnly as she quickly drew the symbols of a protection spell on the ground next to the wall Kris's room's window was on. She shrugged, stalk and began to scale the wall. It took her awhile to make her way up the wall, not because it was hard to climb—rather, it was on the easy side, many old bricks and stones chipped away to make good holds—but more because she wanted to make the least amount of noise possible. Kara had told Faecha, of course, what she had planned to do, and right now she would be sitting in the Dancing Dove, having a drink, watching to make sure that Kris would not come out of his room downstairs, therefore ruining their plan. She reached his window finally and barely peeked her eyes over the edge. Inside was Kris, lying on a bed, reading. Kara ducked back down to rest her arms for a moment before looking back over the window sill. He wasn't there! Kara had but a moment to think AWWW... Crap! Before her arms were grabbed and she was dragged into the room, via a broken window. Scratched and irritated, she kicked out at Kris as he knocked her down, pinning her to the ground and holding a knife to her throat. She was facing down so he couldn't really know who she was, and her hair was covering her face. He better not cut any of it off she thought before spitting some out of her mouth. "Who are you, and who sent you?" Kris demanded, digging a knee into her spine. Kara yelped and before thinking, spun, knocking his hand away and squeezing out from underneath him. She brushed her hair out of her face as she sat there on the ground and looked accusingly at him, "Hey! That HURT!!!" Kris first looked shocked, and then, covered it up with amusement. "Hello, my little fox," he said, giving her a flirtatious smile and standing up. "How are you this eve?" "Oh shut up," Kara said, taking the hand that Kris offered her to help her up. Looking on the ground around her, she saw what she was dreading. A rather large, black lock of hair was on the ground. Picking it up, she looked accusingly at the thief. He looked sheepish, "Ummm... yeah, sorry about that, although," Kris said, moving closer and brushing the now short piece just about as long as her chin, "I rather like it." He gave her another smile and showed her his knife, "I'll do the other side too if you want." Kara thought about it a moment, holding the short piece in front of her nose, and finally nodded, "Fine, but you better not screw it up." She waited as Kris took a lock of hair from the other side of her face and neatly cut it off, standing back and looking at his handiwork. Giving her a smile, the King of the Rogue's pointed to a mirror on the opposite wall, "Take a look," he said, sitting on his bed and placing his knife under his pillow. Kara walked over, turning her head at different angles to see how it would look. Not bad, she thought, tucking a piece behind her ear and turning to look at Kris. "At least you didn't chop off a larger piece than that. What do you think?" she asked, spinning around to show him. "Very pretty," Kris said, moving close to her and tugging softly on one of the pieces. Kara looked down at her feet, feeling a little uncomfortable. Sure she had THOUGHT about her and Kris together but they weren't exactly pleasant thoughts. He had rather annoyed her up to this point. Now, the idea wasn't all that unpleasant. Looking up, she looked into Kris's eyes carefully. Bending down, the thief brushed his lips softly against hers. Suddenly, Kara heard yelling outside. They jumped away from each other like scared rabbits. Kris was the first to recover and walked over to the window to look out of it, ducking his head so as to not scratch it on the broken glass. "What?" he called down. "Where is Kara?! She was supposed to be down here ten minutes ago!" Faecha's voice yelled up to Kris. Kara winced, kicking herself mentally for forgetting about the wild mage. "I'm okay!" she called down to her, pushing Kris aside and sticking her own head out the window. "I'll be down in a second!" She ducked back in to smile apologetically at Kris. "I'll see you later, okay?" she said, opening the window and climbing out. Kris nodded with a smile and a wave and Kara quickly dropped/ climbed down to land next to Faecha, who was leaning against the building. "What?" Kara asked, placing her hands on her hips at Fae's raised eyebrows. "Oh, nothing," she replied, raising her hands and walking away with a grin.  
  
A week later, Kara was summoned to the King's study after her lessons with Numair. Wiping her hands nervously on her skirts, she hesitated before knocking on the large oak doors softly. There was a pause before a muffled, "Come in" came from within the room. Pushing a door so that she could slip in, Kara closed the door carefully behind her before turning and walking towards Jonathan, who was sitting at his desk signing papers. "Oh yes, Kara, I wished to speak with you." The king said without looking up, leaning foreword to examine a paper practically dripping with ribbons and seals. Coming foreword cautiously, she sat down in the chair across from him and placed her hands folded in her lap. "Oh?" she answered politely, leaning foreword to as to possibly catch a glimpse of the paper. Looking up, the King of Tortall gave her a smile before leaning back. "Yes, I wanted to inform you that we are holding a ball in you and Faecha's honor next Saturday, no, don't thank me, it is the Queen and I's pleasure," he said, misinterpreting her horrified stare. "Oh, um, okay." Kara said, snapping her mouth closed and looking away. She didn't want to seem ungrateful but she had no clue on how to behave at a ball, she barely went to her high school's dances in the first place! Plus, she wasn't sure if she would be able to handle being polite to annoying young nobles that wouldn't leave her alone to hang out with who she wanted to. Looking back over at the king out of the corner of her eye, he looked at her with a thoughtful expression on his face. "You will need to formally present yourself to court sooner or later, you know," he reminded her, picking back up his quill and spinning it between two fingers. "I know," Kara said moodily, placing her head in a hand with a sigh. "I just wish I didn't have to be nice to everyone, it gets old fast. What about the dances that me and Fae need to learn?" She looked over at the king, a scowl threatening to adorn her face. He waved a hand at her, gesturing for her to leave as he picked back up the paper, "You shall have lessons every night after dinner with our etiquette master. He will teach you all that you need to know. Now, I need to sign a new treaty with Tyra so go tell Mistress Quickpaw the good news." Kara left the room with a sigh Well, no getting out of it now, might as well find Fae and tell her the "good" news she thought sullenly, walking through the castle to her friend's rooms. Knocking sullenly on the door, Kara waited as she heard a little bit of thumping, as if someone had fallen off a bed, and then some quick steps until the door was yanked open with a growled, "WHAT?" "We have to go to a ball in our honor next Saturday. Oh yes, I'm thrilled too," she said, leaning against the wall opposite the wild mage's door. The auburn haired girl groaned and motioned her inside, chucking herself facedown on the bed as Kara grabbed a chair and plopped into it, their emotions mirrored down to their facial expressions.  
  
"I know; sucks doesn't it? And not only that, but we get dancing lessons for the next week and a half so that we don't embarrass anyone." Kara said, unsheathing her dagger and chucking it into the wall, where it dropped behind a chair. Faecha groaned and stuffed her head into her pillow, rocking back and forth slowly, "I can NOT believe that this has to happen," her voice muffled by the pillow, "I mean I have Initiation next Saturday." There was a pause as the wild mage sat up and turned, looking over at Kara's shocked face. "Did I give away too much?" she asked carefully, wincing. "Initiation for what?" Kara asked, standing and charging at Faecha, tackling her so that her arms were crushed beneath her and she was unable to move. "Oh, nothing... OW! Okay, initiation into being a thief." She muttered finally, squirming to get her hands free, but just managed to get herself more tangled up. Kara jumped off her friend, laughing as Faecha scrambled off the bed. "You're going to become a thief? Neat! And, well, I'm not that surprised anyways, you're always stealing stuff from me anyways." She grinned as the wildmage glared at her, but then grew worried. "Um, Fae? How are we supposed to deal with this? We can't just blow off the ball-thingie, can we?" Faecha rubbed the back of her neck, pacing back and forth across the room, "I'm not sure. You may need to cause a diversion so that I can get away. The good thing is that the Initiation thing is later in the evening. Kara nodded, "Alright then, that shouldn't be too hard, though I may ruin my reputation in the process" She shrugged, "Sorry but if I back out now, Kris may have to kill me, he's told me too much..." she drifted off as Kara stared at her. "Really?" she said, sitting down again in a chair. Faecha shrugged once again, "Who knows, but it can always be a possibility," she looked at Kara and slyly smiled, "So what are you going to do?" Kara grinned and folded her arms over her chest, "You'll see." 


End file.
